Editorial: City needs formula for downtown

Thursday

The move of downtown Utica’s only full-service pharmacy will make it more difficult to resurrect the center city because it compromises the symbiotic relationship necessary for it to thrive.

That’s a problem that must be addressed as the Roefaro administration goes about developing its master plan in the months ahead.
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On Tuesday, Rite-Aid left its downtown store at 167-169 Genesee St., stating simply, “We’re moving.” A sign on the building stated prescriptions would be filled at its 1501 Genesee St. store, one mile to the south across from the Colonial Laundromat plaza.

Rite-Aid has had a downtown presence since it purchased the Daw Drug Co. in 1969. It was first located at the northeast corner of Bleecker and Genesee Streets and later expanded, moving to its current site in 1977.

Though downtown shoppers no longer pack the streets as they did in the store’s hey-day, the loss of the pharmacy – which also sells everything from milk and greeting cards to razors and pantyhose – will be particularly disruptive for many older residents of the nearby complexes such as the Macartovin Apartments on Devereux Street and the Lillian Cooper Apartments and Genesee Towers on Genesee Street. Many do not drive, and the downtown store was convenient because it was within easy walking distance.

Mayor David Roefaro said the Rite-Aid move caught the city by surprise, and he has vowed to find a replacement. That’s a formidable task. Business cannot be expected to locate in areas where it cannot be profitable, and in order to lure a pharmacy or any business to downtown, the city will need to demonstrate that the market is there. Right now, that’s questionable.

In a recent interview, Robert Sullivan, the city’s new commissioner of urban and economic development, said that a master plan was critical to the city’s future development, and that his office has scheduled meetings with experts to begin that process. Part of that process must include a discussion of what the city needs to do to make business investment downtown worthwhile. That’s a challenge, especially if the city plans to pursue development of lofts, whose residents depend on basic services like a pharmacy or food market.

Sullivan says a reborn Stanley Theatre, existing restaurants, clubs and hotels all can contribute to a brisk downtown night life, and there’s no argument they can help. But it’ll take much more than that to provide the consistent traffic business requires for substantial investment. That’s the challenge city leaders face, and one they must overcome if downtown is to ever thrive again.

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